Such article storage facilities are used to store semiconductor wafers and reticles that are used during exposure of the semiconductor wafers. Specifically, the stored semiconductor wafers and reticles are retrieved from the storage rack before being transported to an exposure process apparatus.
Incidentally, although the exposed semiconductor wafer is transported to another processing apparatus for the next process, that semiconductor wafer may be put back and stored in the storage rack or stored in another storage rack for temporal storage.
The reticle that has been used is typically put back and stored in the storage rack.
JP 2000-91401A (Patent Document 1) discloses an example of such an article storage facility.
In the configuration of Patent Document 1, a semiconductor wafer that is contained in a wafer container is stored on a cassette shelf in a storage rack, and a reticle is directly placed and stored on a reticle shelf in the storage rack or a reticle that is placed on a reticle carrier is stored on the reticle shelf. An empty container that has the same style as that of the wafer container is stored in the storage rack.
A storage and retrieval transport apparatus includes a cassette hand for holding the wafer container, a reticle hand for holding the reticle carrier, and an opening and closing mechanism for opening and closing the lid of the empty container having the same style as that of the wafer container.
When the wafer container is moved out of storage, the storage and retrieval transport apparatus transports the wafer container from the cassette shelf to a storage and retrieval location.
When the reticle is moved out of storage, the storage and retrieval transport apparatus previously removes from the storage rack the empty container having the same style as that of the wafer container, and opens the lid of the empty container. Next, the storage and retrieval transport apparatus puts the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle that has been removed from the reticle shelf, into the empty container whose lid is opened, and thereafter, closes the lid of the container, and transports the container to the storage and retrieval location.
Although Patent Document 1 does not describe the process of moving the wafer container into storage in detail, the wafer container may be moved into storage by the storage and retrieval transport apparatus transporting the wafer container from the storage and retrieval location to the cassette shelf.
Also, the reticle may be moved into storage as follows. The storage and retrieval transport apparatus may receive from the storage and retrieval location the container containing the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle, open the lid of the received container, extract the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle from the container whose lid has been removed, and transport the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle to the reticle shelf. Thereafter, the storage and retrieval transport apparatus may close the lid of the empty container from which the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle has been extracted, and place the empty container in the storage rack.
Also, although Patent Document 1 does not describe a specific configuration that allows the cassette hand to support the wafer container or a specific configuration that allows the reticle hand to support the reticle or the reticle carrier, the drawings of Patent Document 1 suggests that the wafer container may be placed on and supported by the cassette hand, and the reticle or the reticle carrier may be placed on and supported by the reticle hand.
Incidentally, Patent Document 1 illustrates that the wafer container has a top flange at an upper portion thereof.
Patent Document 1 describes, although not in detail, an article transport facility in which the wafer container, or a container containing the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle, is transported to a semiconductor exposure process apparatus as the exposure process apparatus by an automated overhead transport vehicle.
In the article storage facility of Patent Document 1, it is difficult to move the reticle out of or into storage, and the storage and retrieval transport apparatus has a complicated configuration, and therefore, an improvement has been desired.
Specifically, the process of moving the reticle out of storage requires the step of removing the empty container from the storage rack and opening the lid of the empty container, the step of putting the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle that has been removed from the reticle shelf, into the empty container whose lid has been opened, the step of closing the lid of the container, and the step of transporting the container whose lid has been closed to the storage and retrieval location. Therefore, the reticle cannot be quickly moved out of storage.
The process of moving the reticle into storage requires the step of receiving the container containing the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle from the storage and retrieval location, and opening the lid of the container, the step of extracting the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle from the container whose lid has been opened, and placing the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle on the reticle shelf, the step of closing the lid of the container from which the reticle or the reticle carrier carrying the reticle has been extracted, and the step of placing the container whose lid has been closed in the storage rack. Therefore, the reticle cannot be quickly moved into storage.
In addition, the storage and retrieval transport apparatus needs to include the cassette hand for holding the wafer container, the reticle hand for holding the reticle carrier, and the opening and closing mechanism for opening and closing the lid of the empty container having the same style as that of the wafer container. Therefore, the storage and retrieval transport apparatus has a complicated configuration.